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Many men have tried to match up to the greatness of Tom Hanks, but few have done so in an attempt to boost their ailing political career with a "viral" video.

The Times reported today that former Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg filmed his own version of Carly Rae Jepsen's video for I Really Like You last March to try to gain traction ahead of the 2015 general election.

In Jepsen's video, which was released a few days before Clegg made his own version, two-time Oscar winner Hanks mimes along to the pop star's song while endearingly dancing around the streets of Manhattan, taking selfies with strangers.

Nick Clegg takes selfies on camera, as Tom Hanks did in the I Really Like You video

We will never see Clegg's version as Lib Dem staff were reportedly "sworn to secrecy about its existence". However, it apparently recreated the I Really Like You video scene for scene. Footage shows Clegg posing for selfies in front of a film camera.

The slight difference, however, was the setting: while Jepsen's version was filmed in the bright winter light of New York City, Clegg and his team had chosen Gravesend in Kent as their film set.

The Lib Dem parody took several days to film – including March 19, when Danny Alexander unveiled the Lib Dems' alternative pre-election budget – and was intended to show the party's "fun" side, with Clegg wanting to avoid it being "too po-faced and serious". But an insider told The Times, "it made no sense".

Election expenses filed by the Lib Dems showed that the video cost £7,800 to make, which is arguably cheaper than the £30,000 said to have been spent by the Labour Party on the tablet of stone used by party leader Ed Miliband during the same campaign. However, Clegg swiftly realised that the video was a misstep, asking friends "Why the f--- did I do that?" after a day spent in front of the camera.